France says French nationals held at Algeria gas facility

PARIS - French President Francois Hollande confirmed on Thursday that there were French nationals among Western hostages being held by Islamist militants at a gas plant in Algeria.

"There were and there are French nationals at this facility," Hollande told a news conference after a meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.

Hollande said that while the situation was very confused, he had total faith in the Algerian authorities' ability to resolve the crisis and would be speaking to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika later in the day.